Rochester or SUNY Stony Brook

Hello! I just wanted some advice from fellow SDNers! I am having a really hard time deciding between rochester and suny stony brook. any opinions? I keep going back and forth every day! How frustrating! Thanks for your input!

I really wanted to go to Rochester, but I didn't apply my grades weren't good enough.

Anyways I would choose Rochester. Both schools are good. High class students go to both Universities. I think Rochester would probably be a better place to live. I'm orginally from Bufffalo and I like the area much more than Long Island.

Research is good at both schools
US News ranks Rochester better than SB (even for primary care I think)

Rochester, IMHO, is a better school than SB... they've got an amazing curriculum (PBL, extremely early clinical exposure, etc.), wonderful facilities (PBL rooms were amazing), and a very supportive admin/faculty.

However, SB is a lot closer to NYC... although it's still like 1.5-2 hours or something (from what I've read on another SDN thread)...

If you have family in the city, and would prefer to be close to them, then maybe SB would be the choice... but if you don't care that much about location, then I would definitely pick Rochester...

side question, is SUNY SB the only med school in the area??? (Long Island, right?)

SB: obviously much cheaper, the students seemed nice, match list is varied, some really good matches some so so; class room learning (I wasn't too hot on this one) students said there were some problems with the curriculum, not many hospitals to rotate through, very non-diverse patient population (primarily middle class italian), pretty expensive to live there ($800 for a studio seemed pricey), it is close to the beach!!!, train to NYC is only like $10

UofR: I sat through a PBL and loved it, however, the facilitator was excellent and I was told this can vary; the students were amazing, very nice went out of their way to talk to us interviewees, students are still involved in many extracurriculars, match list is very very strong, they have a couple of programs for specializing in neuro programs and medical humanititis, cheaper to live, the immediate cultural opportunities are better, eastman music center, musuems, however, NYC is like 5 hours away, student body is from all over the US versus from NY (although we are a pretty diverse state <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> ), the host I stayed with were the coolest I meet on my interviews, much better research opportunities, plus they were building a translational research center, it is one of the only hospitals in NY (and definitely in upstate NY) that is financially secure, you get to rotate through many hospitals including a VA (which usually mean you get to do much more) and cooperstown, class is smaller at Rochester, they give the students money to do international electives etc., give the students money to do research, the list of extracurricular groups seemed really impressive, they have computers integrated extremely well into the curriculum and also used in their small group sessions, they have video taping of interactions with patients (actors) (which stony brook did not have)

I have to admit Rochester was my favorite school I interviewed at but I just interviewed at Stony brook, some last minute financial aid freaking...AT rochester I interviewed with a JD who was just an amazing woman and the head dean himself (who was so nice, and plays an active role with the students)

Thanks for the info! I am leaning towards Rochester (at least for today)...it is a really good program. I guess I just worry that there isn?t enough structure to the program. I have been out of school for 2 years, and think that I will need a bit more structure. ROchester does have all the lecture notes give to you though. I?m not so sure how pbl will be, as I haven?t been through this sort of program.
No, I have also been accepted into Dartmouth and Boston Univ, but I don?t like those schools as much as rochester and sb. I will do research during medical school since I want to go into opth or derm, but I?m not super fond of research. But, we?ll see I guess. Who knows? Maybe by some miracle I?ll get off the wait-list at Yale.
Again, thanks for your input. any others have comments too, I would love to hear them.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Ken Young:
<strong>Hello! I just wanted some advice from fellow SDNers! I am having a really hard time deciding between rochester and suny stony brook. any opinions? I keep going back and forth every day! How frustrating! Thanks for your input!</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">dude, if you gonna choose stony brook over rochester, you need to see a doctor, not be one <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />

i'll admit i dont know much about the SUNY system -- but i interviewed at rochester, and it was my favorite school outside of california (yes, i thought it was better than all the dc, nyc, etc etc etc schools). the curriculum, the students, the facilities, the faculty are all top-notch. that school is $$$$loaded, man. and the most important factor -- the people in rochester (including the students) are SO NICE. i was so shocked; i don't think i have ever met a nicer bunch of people. even when i got on the bus to ride around the city, the bus driver talked to me and helped me with the map as if he had just won the lotto. i felt like this no matter who i talked to, whether it was a diner's cashier or the city's visitor center guide.

plus, i heard a nasty rumor that SUNY is bumping up tuition a ton; not sure if that's true, but the rumor said that current students have already gotten additional bills. if that's the case, i'd say go to rochester definitely. that's the 1 thing SUNY has going for it -- that it's cheaper (well i guess if you have family closer, that too); if it's not even going to be cheaper, forget it. rochester is ranked like 28th this year, SUNY is ranked what?...

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by matthew0126:
<strong>plus, i heard a nasty rumor that SUNY is bumping up tuition a ton; not sure if that's true, but the rumor said that current students have already gotten additional bills. </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yup, SUNY tuition was about 10,000 last year, and for this upcoming year it will be about 12,000 bucks. There is also a possibility of further increases in the next few years by about 2000 a year. However, they will need to approve that. This was straight from the admissions director at SUNY-Upstate, so I think it is accurate.

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